Unionist folly

I AM surprised that you published such a ridiculous letter 
(2 November) from Lord Kilclooney, formerly John Taylor MP, a member of the fractured and failed Ulster political class that had to be bailed out by mainland troops.

He always starts his interference with the words “as an 
Ulster Scot”. Perhaps his ancestry is Scottish, but he is an Ulster Scot like the Queen is a “Britain German”.

Lord Kilclooney is an Ulster unionist, his loyalty is to the UK and London. He had better be aware that Scotland will stand alone, while Ulster may choose to stay under London rule or go independent. That is not Scotland’s concern. Furthermore, Scotland is not Ulster’s concern.

Lord Kilclooney’s final paragraph is plain downright stupid: he points out that Scotland gets a block grant of £30 billion and an independent Scotland would lose it “with resulting reduction in public funding for education etc” and he wonders if supporters of independence have a proposal to overcome this loss.

Well, yes, M’Lord – an independent Scotland will be raising her own taxes and spending them as needed on ourselves, not sending them to London in return for pocket money. Hasn’t he noticed that is what independent countries do? As £30bn is only part of what we pay London, we will have even more to attend to our own needs.

Nice attempt at a spoiler – I wonder which sneaky British unionist put him up to it.

Thomas R Burgess

St Catherine’s Square

Perth